Sacramento County Sheriff cracks down on drug smuggling into downtown jail

SACRAMENTO – The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office is working to combat drug smuggling after confirming three inmates have died of overdoses this year.

The sheriff's office also confirmed that its officers saved lives by administering 75 doses of Narcan.

“I fear there will be more overdoses because of the willpower of the inmates and the sophistication of the methods,” said Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper.

Sheriff Cooper said that's why arrest protocol has been changed to prevent drugs from being smuggled into the prison.

Now, arrestees who are released are placed in a different cell than those who are incarcerated. The other change they have made is the strip search, which now takes place earlier in the process and is followed by a physical examination.

Although the system can detect weapons, it cannot always detect many items that inmates attempt to smuggle in, such as drugs. Sheriff Cooper said many inmates hide the drugs in body cavities.

“With our new procedure, we have seized the largest amount of narcotics in just two weeks than ever before in a month,” said Sheriff Cooper.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office seized nearly 100 grams of drugs last month and uncovered 11 separate smuggling cases. This year alone, more than 500 grams of drugs have been seized.

However, the searches are not foolproof, as three inmates have died of overdoses this year, so every deputy is trained to administer Narcan, which is available throughout the jail, including in the cells and holding cells where inmates spend most of their time.

Even relatives of inmates outside of prison facilitate the purchase of drugs that can prove fatal in prison.

“On June 7, during a campaign rally, an inmate took his prescribed methadone and gave it to another inmate whose family member had sent him $50 through Cashapp,” said Sheriff Cooper.

Sheriff Cooper said the inmate took the drug without a prescription and died that night. He could not reveal the inmate's identity, but on June 8, the sheriff's office announced that Smiley Martin, one of the three suspects charged in the 2022 K Street mass murder, died of an overdose.

At the beginning of the month, the coroner’s office confirmed, Martin died of methadone poisoning.

“We're doing everything we can. At some point, there's a limit to what you can do,” Sheriff Cooper said. “I don't want to see any dead people; my deputies don't want to see any dead people.”

Sheriff Cooper said that strip searches are illegal in California and that is why most drugs are smuggled that way. He added that they are looking into new technologies for body scans and have strengthened their investigations unit for fentanyl smuggling and distribution.